Apparatus for individually feeding sheets, cards, banknotes and the like

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for feeding sheets, cards, banknotes and the like from a stack comprises a rotary roll which engages the lowermost sheet, card or banknote in the stack, a further roll spaced from and preferably slightly above the first roll, and a strip having a rough coating and so arranged between the two rolls as to extend inside a plane tangent to the peripheries of the rolls.

United States Patent 1191 Ericsson 1 Feb. 5, 1974 [54] APPARATUS FORINDIVIDUALLY 3,108,799 10/1963 Clemens et a1. 271/41 FEEDING SHEETS,CARDS, BANKNOTES 3,226,110 12/ 1965 Greene 271/41 AND THE LIKE 11332113? i132 ieiffffflfififiiliiiiiiiii'511/3111 11 [75] Inventor: Konrad E,Ericsson, Stockholm, 1,919,238 7/1933 McCarthy 271/41 Sweden 3,214,09610/1965 BUChhOlZ et a1. 271/36 )4 [73] A A b De '0 tAB 2,814,919 12/1957Jones et a1 221/188 X ssrgnee: r man ve pmen 1 Stockholm, Sweden P Ex EC Bl k rzmaiy ammervon un [22] Ffled: 1972 Assistant ExaminerBruce H.Stoner, Jr. [21] A l N 225,910 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Buckmam andArcher [30] Foreign Application Priority Data May 12, 1971 Sweden6143/71 [57] ABSTRACT An apparatus for feeding sheets, cards, banknotesand [52] US. Cl 271/117, 221/188, 221/ 197, the like from a Stackcomprises a rotary 1.01] which em 271/9 271/121 271/162 gages thelowermost sheet, card or banknote in the [51] Illt. Cl B6511 Stack afurther roll Spaced from and prefarably [58] Field of 271/41 44 slightlyabove the first roll, and a strip having a rough 271/29, 9, 221/188,209, 197, 235/9 B coating and so arranged between the two rolls as to 1References Cited extend inside a plane tangent to the peripheries of therolls. UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,820,408 1/1958 Williams 271/41 X 5Claims, 4 Drawing Figures ILJJ71 PATENTEU E 51974 SHEEI 1 UP 3 PATENTED51974 SHEET 3 [1F 3 APPARATUS FOR INDIVIDUALLY FEEDING SHEETS, CARDS,BANKNOTES AND THE LllKlE This invention relates to an apparatus forindividually feeding sheets, cards, banknotes and the like, comprisingfeed rolls which feed the sheets, cards or banknotes from a stack one ata time past sensing means connected to a counter.

in prior art apparatuses of this type use has generally been made ofsuction means including a pneumatic device having a vacuum pump,pipelines and suction cups for separating the sheets or banknotes. Theseparated sheets or banknotes have operated a counter or have beenconducted past other counting units. The more or less complicatedconstruction of these prior art apparatuses has implied a very highmarket price. An essential disadvantage inherent in the prior artapparawses av ng sssti ans is that-wbsna-t9r banknote is encountered twobanknotes may be fed simultaneously, thereby giving cause to incorrectcount- The invention provides a machine of simplified constructionwhereby the prime costs and the market price are reduced considerablybelow those of the prior art apparatuses.

According to the invention, the apparatus includes a container foraccommodating a stack of sheets, cards or banknotes to be counted, amotor-driven first feed roll having a rough coating and adapted toengage the outermost sheet of the stack and to extract it from thestack, a motor-driven second roll likewise having a rough coating andspaced from and preferably slightly above the first feed roll, atransverse strip of rough material arranged between said feed roll andso located as to lie inside a plane tangent to the peripheries of thetwo feed rolls, and guide means which along a portion of the peripheryof the second feed roll define a passage for the sheets, cards orbanknotes.

An embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention will bedescribed hereinbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings:

G. U a a amma c @ifil? i w of a anrataws connected to a counter, thecontainer for the sheets, cards or banknotes to be counted being shownin filling position,

F IG. 2 is a likewise diagrammatic side view of the apparatus in feedingposition,

FIG. 3 is a front view of the apparatus, and

FIG. 4 is a view showing an assembly of several apparatuses and countersfor simultaneous counting of banknotes of different values or sizes.

Parts not directlypertaining to the invention s rch as frame, motor,transmission, switches and like means are only diagrammatically shown inthe drawings and are not described in detail in the followingspecification.

Fi st an a s sar tss r lls a d ltr rsstivqly are mounted in a frame. Therolls are driven at different speeds but in the same direction by amotor 3, the second roll 2 having a higher peripheral speed than thefirst roll 1. The first roll 1 has a slightly lower location than thesecond roll 2. Adjacent the first roll l a cradle 4 is so mounted thatit can be swung from a position in which the bottom 5 thereof is sloping(MG. 1), to a substantially horizontal position of said bottom 5 (FIG.2). A sheet, card or banknote container 6 can be entered into thecradle. The width of the container 6 conforms to the type of sheets,cards or banknotes to be fed past the counter, and along a cornerportion the container has a recess 7 facing the first feed roll l. Thebottom of the container ti has a coating of relatively rough rubber orlike material. in the horizontal position of the cradle the containerbottom, as will appear from H6. 2, is on a level with the upper side ofthe first feed roll ll. Both feed rolls are coated with a layer 9 andll), respectively, of relatively rough rubber or like material, and thefirst feed roll is so located that in the lowered position of the cradlethe sheets, cards or banknotes in the container 6, which protrudethrough the recess 7, bear against said roll 1. A strip ll of roughrubber or like material is disposed on the side of the first feed rollit opposed to the cradle and approximately on a level with the upperside of said feed roll ll, that is, beneath a plane tangent to the uppersides of the two rolls. A curved guide 12 extends from said strip llobliquely upward so that a passage 13 is formed between the guide 12 andthe second roll 2. The passage terminates in a substantially horizontalportion. Into this portion of the passage project two tines l4, 15 whichare adapted to operate microswitches 16 and l7 each of which actuates acounter l8 and 119, respectively.

When a full container 6 has been placed in the cradle 4 and the latteris swung to the position shown in H0. 2 a micro-switch (not shown) isoperated, starting the motor 3 driving the rolls 1 and 2. The lowermostsheet in the stack placed in the container, the leading edge of whichsheet rests on the first roll ll, will be carried along, sweep againstthe strip ill, be deflected by the guide 12 and encounter the tines Mand l5 which operate the switches each of which delivers pulses to acounter. The sheets are adapted, beyond the second feed roll, to fallinto a compartment or a container located in proximity therewith. Assoon as the lowermost sheet is extracted from the stack, thesuperimposed sheet will get in contact with the rough coating at thecontainer bottom, against which it is pressed by a weight Zll placed onthe stack, and as a rule will not be extracted together with thelowermost sheet. Actually, the friction between the second sheet and therubber coating will gradually increase and mostly is larger than thefriction between the two lowermost sheets. Should, however, the secondsheet happen to be carried along it will immediately encounter the roughstrip 11, and also at this point the friction between the strip ll. andthe sheet will be greater than the friction between the sheets. Thesecond sheet will thus be retained in contact with the strip until thefirst sheet in its entirety has passed the strip. This will prevent adouble feed of sheets. Experiments have shown that in feeding banknotesit is of no importance whether the banknotes are new or used or whetherthey are mixed. The arrangement of two sensing tines and two counters inthe embodiment illustrated provides a safety mechanism which rapidlyindicates whether a folded banknote or half a banknote has been counted.

H6. 4 shows how several counters have been built together to provide anassembly in which a large number of banknotes of various types or of thesame types can be counted.

It should be mentioned that the apparatus may be arranged in such a waythat several kinds of sheets, cards or banknotes can be counted with it.This is made possible by conforming the width of the rollers and thepassage to the width of the largest sheets, cards or banknotes and bythe cradle accommodating various types of containers. It is alsopossible to combine the apparatus with batch feeding means in which casethe feed is interrupted when a predetermined number of sheets, cards orbanknotes in such a batch have passed the counter. The apparatus canalso be combined with central counters.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. An apparatus forindividually feeding sheets, one at a time, to a delivery zone, whichcomprises a pair of feed rolls disposed in spaced apart relation androtatably driven, said feed rolls having rough friction surfaces; acontainer adapted to hold a stack of sheets to be fed to the deliveryzone, said container having an opening positioned to accommodatewith-drawal of each successive lowermost sheet in the stack, saidcontainer being positioned to present said opening to the first of saidfeed rolls for contact of said lower-most sheet therewith wherebyrotation of said first feed roll advances the lowermost sheet out of thecontainer to the second feed roll, said second feed roll being operableto contact said sheet to advance same to in-cluding delivery zone; meansdisposed to support said container, said support means being adjustablefrom a position in which the lower-most is presented to said first feedroll for feeding sheets, to a withdrawn position away from said firstfeed roll; and a transverse strip of rough friction material positionedbetween said feed rolls and extending beyond a common plane tangent tosaid feed rolls, said transverse strip being disposed to exertfrictional forces on the next overlying sheet in the container greaterthan the friction force between said next sheet and the sheet being fedto the delivery station to retain said next sheet in the container untilthe lowermost sheet being fed to the delivery zone has been completelywithdrawn from the container; and guide means positioned injuxtaposition to said transverse strip and feed rolls to define apassage directing the sheets to the delivery zone.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said container has a bottomsurface with a rough friction coating disposed to engage the lowermostsheet in the stack and including means disposed to press against theuppermost sheet in the stack to increase the friction force load on thelowermost sheet by said bottom coating.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 including a plurality of containerseach adapted to hold a stack of sheets to be fed to a correspondingdelivery zone, said containers being arranged in spaced apart relationalong the axial direction of said feed rolls and said transverse stripof rough frictional material being elongated along said axial direction.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1 including sensing means disposedfor actuation by sheets advanced by said feed rolls to the deliveryzone.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1 including meansforrotatablydrivirig sgid second fe e droll at a higher peripheral s peedthan the first feed roll.

1. An apparatus for individually feeding sheets, one at a time, to adelivery zone, which comprises a pair of feed rolls disposed in spacedapart relation and rotatably driven, said feed rolls having roughfriction surfaces; a container adapted to hold a stack of sheets to befed to the delivery zone, said container having an opening positioned toaccommodate with-drawal of each successive lowermost sheet in the stack,said container being positioned to present said opening to the first ofsaid feed rolls for contact of said lower-most sheet therewith wherebyrotation of said first feed roll advances the lowermost sheet out of thecontainer to the second feed roll, said second feed roll being operableto contact said sheet to advance same to including delivery zone; meansdisposed to support said container, said support means being adjustablefrom a position in which the lower-most is presented to said first feedroll for feeding sheets, to a withdrawn position away from said firstfeed roll; and a transverse strip of rough friction material positionedbetween said feed rolls and extending beyond a common plane tangent tosaid feed rolls, said transverse strip being disposed to exertfrictional forces on the next overlying sheet in the container greaterthan the friction force between said next sheet and the sheet being fedto the delivery station to retain said next sheet in the container untilthe lowermost sheet being fed to the delivery zone has been completelywithdrawn from the container; and guide means positioned injuxtaposition to said transverse strip and feed rolls to define apassage directing the sheets to the delivery zone.
 2. An apparatusaccording to claim 1 wherein said container has a bottom surface with arough friction coating disposed to engage the lowermost sheet in thestack and including means disposed to press against the uppermost sheetin the stack to increase the friction force load on the lowermost sheetby said bottom coating.
 3. An apparatus according to claim 1 including aplurality of containers each adapted to hold a stack of sheets to be fedto a corresponding delivery zone, said containers being arranged inspaced apart relation along the axial direction of said feed rolls andsaid transverse strip of rough frictional material being elongated alongsaid axial direction.
 4. An apparatus according to claim 1 includingsensing means disposed for actuation by sheets advanced by said feedrolls to the delivery zone.
 5. An apparatus according to claim 1including means for rotatably driving said second feed roll at a higherperipheral speed than the first feed roll.